the merits of J 10 preflop

[Lexander]

My advice is to both fold JTo but beware whenever the board is such that JT will produce the nuts (Q98) since so many people play it.

I think Jones was trying to talk about a single marginal hand that had some value in certain loose-passive games when you have position and flop something solid. But because he discusses this one particular hand for a paragraph people misunderstand and overplay the hand.

After all, what kind of flop are you looking for with JTo? No pair you make is going to be that good. Two pair is good but not great with hands like KQ getting nice draws. If you flop trips you are either dominated or the deck is partially crippled. You have no flush draw.

So basically you are hoping to hit a straight, or hit a boat when somebody hits a flush. Hands like that generally are considered trash hands.

But, JTo does have one redeeming feature that Jones was suggesting. It can make the nuts in a situation where other hands want to keep fighting. The problem I find is that most hands that are better than JTo are going to come in with a raise and JTo is not a hand I want to call any raises with. So it really is hand that needs the right kind of table (too few raises, but lots of staying in).

- Lex